ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to investigate whether there was an increase of aneuploidy in the sperm from fathers of Turner syndrome patients of paternal origin who, in a previous study, showed an elevated incidence of XY meiotic nondisjunction. Sperm disomy frequencies for chromosomes 4, 13, 18, 21 and 22 were assessed by fluorescence in situ hybridisation in four of these individuals. As a group, the Turner syndrome fathers showed a general increase in disomy frequencies for chromosomes 13, 21 and 22, with a statistically significant increase in disomy frequencies for chromosomes 13 and 22 in one of the fathers and for chromosome 21 in two of them. Data from a previous work carried out by us in two fathers of Down syndrome patients of paternal origin also revealed increased sperm disomy frequencies for chromosomes 13, 21 and 22. Pooled as one group, these six fathers of aneuploid offspring of paternal origin had a statistically significant increase in the frequency of nondisjunction for these chromosomes with respect to control individuals. Our findings indicate that there may be an association between fathering aneuploid offspring and increased frequencies of aneuploid spermatozoa. Such increases do not seem to be restricted to the chromosome pair responsible for the aneuploid offspring. Acrocentric chromosomes and other chromosome pairs that usually show only one chiasma during meiosis seem to be more susceptible to malsegregation.

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In humans, the most common chromosomal abnormality is aneuploidy. Because the majority of aneuploid conceptuses die during the early stages of embryonic development, an accurate estimate of the frequency of aneuploidy at conception can only be assessed by directly studying the gametes. The vast majority of aneuploidies arise de novo as a result of sporadic chromosome missegregation in paternal or maternal meiosis. In this review, we present the basic current knowledge about the incidence of aneuploidy in human spermatozoa in the general population and in patient populations where elevated levels of sperm aneuploidy are observed. These include infertile patients, patients with abnormal somatic karyotypes, and individuals exposed to certain environmental/ lifestyle hazards. The clinical impact of increased levels of aneuploidy is discussed. We then focus on the nondisjunction mechanisms that cause aneuploidy during spermatogenesis and the factors that predispose to nondisjunction in male germ cells followed by an analysis of the sex differences in the incidence of gamete aneuploidy. Recent meiotic studies using multiplex-FISH on three fertile men have revealed that the frequency of conservative aneuploidy of metaphase II spermatocytes is similar to that observed in non-inseminated oocytes of young women. These findings suggest that the differences in the incidence of aneuploidy between spermatozoa and oocytes are not due to differences in chromosome segregation errors but rather to more effective checkpoint mechanisms in spermatogenesis than in oogenesis.

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We reviewed the frequency and distribution of disomy in spermatozoa obtained by multicolor-FISH analysis on decondensed sperm nuclei in (a) healthy men, (b) fathers of aneuploid offspring of paternal origin and (c) individuals with Klinefelter syndrome and XYY males. In series of healthy men, disomy per autosome is approximately 0.1% but may range from 0.03 (chromosome 8) to 0.47 (chromosome 22). The great majority of authors find that chromosome 21 (0.18%) and the sex chromosomes (0.27%) have significantly elevated frequencies of disomy although these findings are not universal. The total disomy in FISH studies is 2.26% and the estimated aneuploidy (2× disomy) is 4.5%, more than double that seen in sperm karyotypes (1.8%). Increased disomy levels of low orders of magnitude have been reported in spermatozoa of some normal men (stable variants) and in men who have fathered children with Down, Turner and Klinefelter syndromes. These findings suggest that men with a moderately elevated aneuploidy rate may be at a higher risk of fathering paternally derived aneuploid pregnancies. Among lifestyle factors, smoking, alcohol and caffeine have been studied extensively but the compounding effects of the 3 are difficult to separate because they are common lifestyle behaviors. Increases in sex chromosome abnormalities, some autosomal disomies, and in the number of diploid spermatozoa are general features in 47,XXY and 47,XYY males. Aneuploidy of the sex chromosomes is more frequent than aneuploidy of any of the autosomes not only in normal control individuals, but also in patients with sex chromosome abnormalities and fathers of paternally derived Klinefelter, Turner and Down syndromes.

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